18" M3

[breezer]

I have a question on the e46 M3 wheels...there seem to be many different offsets on the 18" version! I hear from some places it's front et40, rear et20 but from others fronts et47, rear et26.

If they're et47 front and et26 rear then I can just stick in a 5mm spacer and live with the 8mm wider rear track.

Is there a definitive answer or did they change them during the run or are people peddling misinformation?

Eg. I fancied this set, but the seller says offsets are 40 and 30...does that indicate they're replicas? Were there even replicas of this style in 18"?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/111927518517

If there were replicas, how can I tell?
Many thanks.

 

[mr wilks]

The OEM numbers for these should be 18inch et 47 front et 26 rear as you say & any deviation would concern me as being reps
Assuming you are non M & not E89 then your problem on rear et26 is heightened with rim width being 9j so making the offset even lower by comparison to your OEM fitment wheels . Effectively the outer wheel face will sit 30mm from where a standard 8.5j et 50 wheel would :?

 

[breezer]

The OEM numbers for these should be 18inch et 47 front et 26 rear as you say & any deviation would concern me as being reps
Assuming you are non M & not E89 then your problem on rear et26 is heightened with rim width being 9j so making the offset even lower by comparison to your OEM fitment wheels . Effectively the outer wheel face will sit 30mm from where a standard 8.5j et 50 wheel would :?

Excellent, many thanks for clarifying. I'm MC so standard rears are et30 iirc. Am I right in thinking 8mm added to the rear width (4mm each side by using et26s) won't upset the handling or rub?

 

[mr wilks]

The OEM numbers for these should be 18inch et 47 front et 26 rear as you say & any deviation would concern me as being reps
Assuming you are non M & not E89 then your problem on rear et26 is heightened with rim width being 9j so making the offset even lower by comparison to your OEM fitment wheels . Effectively the outer wheel face will sit 30mm from where a standard 8.5j et 50 wheel would :?

Excellent, many thanks for clarifying. I'm MC so standard rears are et30 iirc. Am I right in thinking 8mm added to the rear width (4mm each side by using et26s) won't upset the handling or rub?

No need to add anything to rears at all if you didn't want :? you may want to add some spacers to fronts to give better stance as the standard 224s are et 42

 

[breezer]

No need to add anything to rears at all if you didn't want :? you may want to add some spacers to fronts to give better stance as the standard 224s are et 42

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I'll add 5mm to each front so that it's back to OEM.

However the rears will naturally be 4mm wider than OEM per side due to the m3 offsets and I was wondering whether that would be okay in terms of handling and rubbing?

Love the wheels on yours by the way!

 

[TomK]

I ran them for a while for my winters. Correct offset should be as mr wilks said, anything else will be rep. No issues with them, I ran a 12mm spacer on the front to clear the calipers I was using at the time. There was some slight rubbing with my winters on and a 10mm on the rear so I took those off. Spacing in reality has very little effect on the handling of a car imo.